Dunbar’s volunteer lifeboat crew saw an increase in callouts and rescues last year.

The town’s All Weather Lifeboat (ALB) and In-shore Lifeboat (ILB) were called out a total of 33 times in 2016, a rise of 11 shouts from the previous year.

The crews rescued 23 people in total, 14 with the ILB and nine with the ALB. Of those rescued, just one was under 18. None of those rescued required medical attention from the volunteers.

Fourteen of the callouts took place in the dark, highlighting the 24-nature of the volunteer service.

The number of callouts for 2016 represented a five-year high in shouts for Dunbar.

The RNLI is using these rescue statistics to ask the public to make safety a priority, whether that means wearing a lifejacket, checking their vessel before they go afloat, knowing they should call 999 and ask for the Coastguard in the event of an emergency, checking the tide times before they set out, or staying away from cliff edges and unstable coastal paths.

Will Stephens, the RNLI’s Head of Lifesaving, said: ‘Once again we are extremely grateful for the dedication shown by our lifesavers. Our volunteer lifeboat crews spent over 228,869 hours at sea last year, but we really do see our rescue service as a last resort.

‘We’d really like to see people paying more attention to safety messages and giving the water the heathy respect it deserves. While we will always answer the call for help, myself and everyone within the RNLI would like to see people staying safer at the coast.’